


Mince pies and meeting the parents

by Owl_by_Night



Series: Twelve days of (multi fandom) Christmas [10]
Category: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (TV), Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas, Luckily Colley does, M/M, Meeting the Family, Meeting the Parents, William does not have a good family, or maybe New Year
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:53:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22068085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Owl_by_Night/pseuds/Owl_by_Night
Summary: Baking verse AU - William meets Colley's family for the first time on New Year's Day.
Relationships: William De Lancey/Colquhoun Grant
Series: Twelve days of (multi fandom) Christmas [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1580002
Kudos: 5





	Mince pies and meeting the parents

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of an AU that has been ongoing since the first Twelve Days fics where modern day Will and Colley start a relationship over cakes while they are both at university. 
> 
> There are no archive warnings for this fic, but William's parents are not supportive and he is unhappy as a result, so please keep that in mind if it's not something you want to read about. 
> 
> Although I've been writing this universe for years, it has never been collected together in one place so I thought I'd better add some links to this one. 
> 
> Will and Colley first get together [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5528813/chapters/12953851)  
> Their first time together is [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8484538)  
> The following spring there are [pancakes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10037957)
> 
> This current fic comes after these three. 
> 
> Now grown up, the boys [move in together](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5528813/chapters/12885619)  
> William proposes [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5095877/chapters/14910241)  
> The morning after their wedding is [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8998777/chapters/30445134)
> 
> Many thanks to Mr Owl for beta reading and the slogan on William's t-shirt which is a sneaky reference to the original 70s Poldark.

_Colley_

In their third year of university, Will moves to Paris for his year abroad. They’ve had the summer to get used to being apart but it’s still hard to go back to uni alone. Will calls as often as he can, but he’s busy settling in and Colley is busy with his own studies. He’s got a dissertation to write and it has to go well if he wants to get the right project for his final year. Days in the lab are long. Sometimes they call by Skype and just sit there, with Colley eating a bowl of pasta for a late dinner or William drinking French wine and neither of them really talking.

For their first anniversary, they have a long distance date and watch the same film together on their respective laptops, eating their attempts at the same recipe. Will’s is not as successful as Colley’s and he demands that they try again when they are together again. 

Will laughs when Colley suggests they write letters and proves to be an erratic correspondent but there’s something about getting an envelope or a parcel through the letterbox. Sometimes it’s nothing but a tourist postcard of the Eiffel Tower with a dubious joke and ‘missing you XXX’ scrawled across the back but sometimes Colley gets a thick envelope containing pages of what seems to be every thought in Will’s head from classes to macarons to as much romance as anyone could wish for. Even the descriptions of bars and clubs make him laugh. William is scrupulous about mentioning whoever he might have danced with and the reasons he found them inferior to Colley. Will must talk about him a lot. One of his French friends greet Colley over Skype as ‘the famous boyfriend’.

“Where did you find him?” she asks, “You know he sat in a bar last night and told a very nice boy all about you until they gave up in despair?”

William blushes rosy red and tries to wrestle the camera back from her and Colley feels a pang of loneliness. Emma and Bell are off in Italy and Jon has been suddenly overtaken with the desire for a first so he’s rarely to be seen outside the lab. 

The end of term can’t come soon enough, Colley thinks, and then suddenly Will is there, walking into the library a day earlier than expected, wearing a t-shirt with the slogan ‘Mon Dieu – c’est incroyable!’ curving across his chest in gold glitter, trailing a suitcase and making such a suitable show of a romantic reunion that they are kicked out by the librarian.

“You’re going to freeze,” Colley tells him as they walk through campus. Will gives him one of his disdainful looks, even though he is wearing torn jeans and a thin jacket. For a moment, Colley worries that it was the wrong thing somehow, but Will suddenly grins at him.

“Lucky I’ve got a sensible boyfriend who dresses for the weather, eh?” By the time they get to the coffee shop that does the best lunch, Will is wearing Colley’s coat.

Lunch is a bit strange. Colley is giddy, seeing Will again, but there’s also a bit of constraint from the time apart. He’s been here living a very ordinary existence and it’s noticeable that Will is the one leading the conversation, the one with all the stories to share. Sometimes Colley wonders if he’s acting, almost. Playing the part of the gap year student and forgetting that Colley is meant to be the person he can relax with. 

The strangeness lasts until they get back to Colley’s house and shut the door. “Fuck I’ve missed you,” Will says, burrowing his face hard into Colley’s shoulder. Colley brings his arms up to hold him tight. “Did you miss me too?” Will asks, all soft and gorgeous.

“Of course, God, of course Will.” He says, standing in the hall, grinning like an idiot.

“Upstairs?” Will asks. The two of them make a race of it, nearly tripping over the dodgy stair carpet, and sticking a chair in front of the door because there’s no lock. Colley puts music on, in deference to his housemate, while Will strips himself out of his clothes and dives under the bedclothes. It reminds Colley that he meant to do this reunion properly: dinner somewhere, and at least tidying his room a bit.

“I meant to change the sheets,” he says and Will gives him a look.

“I can’t tell you how much I don’t care.” He presses his face against the pillow. “It smells like you.”

Colley laughs and joins him.

Later on, when they are curled up together in a cosy heap, with Will using Colley as a pillow, Colley asks, “why did you come back today? Not that I mind of course but I thought your flight was tomorrow.”

“I changed it. Thought I’d surprise you.” Will runs his fingers over Colley’s arm. “Besides, it’s one more day with you before I have to face the parents.” He pulls a face.

Colley doesn’t really think much of it at the time. He knows that Will isn’t close to his parents, not like Colley and his bunch of relatives who all get mixed up in each other’s lives and expect regular calls and visits. He tends to assume though, that at least part of it is the front Will puts up for the world. It wouldn’t exactly fit his image as a rebel to be calling his parents or looking forward to seeing them.

He forgets about it once they go out for the night and get drunk in the Student Union bar, playing pool badly and ending up dancing to the small hours. The next day is a blur of hangovers and box sets and take away Chinese. Only a handful more days after that and then it’s the end of term. Will is noticeably subdued on the station, but Colley is feeling pretty subdued himself at the thought of being apart again. He expects they’ll be alright once they get there. 

He arrives home to much mockery about his long face. His brothers take the mick and even his dad makes comments about young love and threatens to confiscate his phone if he doesn’t stop staring at it. His mum wants to know everything though, and he helps her with mince pies and gingerbread while they talk. Will hasn’t texted.

Probably busy, Colley tells himself. The text arrives at half one that night, waking him up to squint at the bright screen. “Forget how much home sucks. Miss you.” He doesn’t really know what to say, because being home doesn’t suck for him. He’s glad to be here, even if he’s missing Will. He settles for ‘miss you too’ and goes back to sleep.

Things don’t seem to get better after that. Colley is fitting quite nicely into the routine at home, doing all the Christmas things he’d been looking forward to, but Will is still not quite himself. He goes silent for long periods, then sends a flurry of texts in the small hours, usually sounding miserable. He claims to be too busy to talk, then rings at half eleven one night, apparently drunk and perched on his windowsill to smoke, nearly giving Colley a heart attack thinking of him sitting there. He’d said it was so he could have a cigarette or two in peace without his parents knowing, but it seems far too risky for Colley’s comfort. 

When Will just starts sounding plain miserable, Colley speaks to his Mum and asks if maybe Will could come and stay, just for a few days. When he mentions it, Will tells him he’s a life saver and makes a melodramatic speech about escaping, that has Colley laughing and feeling that things are looking up. 

Then suddenly it’s the day of the planned visit, and Colley has been in a state since he woke up. He knows his family have been laughing at him all morning (OK, when he managed to upset a whole bowl of cereal and drop a mug of tea, he probably deserved it). It's not like the rest of them haven't done their own share of bringing people home for the first time, but he's the baby, so he's more liable to be teased. Even so, Pete still offers to take him to the station by car so they don't have to get the bus home.

Waiting on the station feels like such a cliché but also he can't stop himself from staring at the station clock and peering down the tracks, waiting for the train to finally come into view. There aren't that many passengers, but Will is the only person Colley sees. He half runs to meet him and then stops. Will looks different. It's a shock actually, the first time Colley has ever seen him dressed like this, in a terribly conventional shirt and blue woolly jumper, no earring, no trace of eyeliner. He looks terribly ordinary, and slightly pale, which Colley thinks might be nerves.

"Hey," he says.

"Hello." They’ve stopped, two feet away from each other like strangers. 

"I missed you." Colley moves forward to put his hands on Will's shoulders and leans up to kiss him. He feels Will flinch a bit and then relax.

"Missed you too." Will smiles for the first time. "Yesterday was hell. So many people over and no escape." 

"I'm sorry, there's a few too many people here too," Colley says guiltily, "at least it's mostly just family, but it's a bit of a tradition. New Year's Day lunch. Do you mind?" 

"No, I'm sure it'll be fine. Meeting everyone."

Colley would never have said described Will was shy of anyone, but now he looks a bit paler. It's the clothes, maybe, or the way his eyelashes look so bleached out without the make up on. He’s also swamped by his heap of luggage: two suitcases and a big rucksack as well as his laptop bag with his headphones trailing and a book squashed in the top. Colley hopes nobody makes a joke about it because his Dad can be like that about packing at the best of times.

"Pete gave me a lift so you can meet him first,” he says, shouldering the rucksack. “And they won't bite. Mum's been looking forward to seeing you again."

They walk out of the station together and Colley keeps his arm tucked around Will against the suspicion that he might make a run for it. Pete's nice enough but he does give Colley the raised eyebrow while Will is shoving his stuff in the boot and he supposes that Will today isn't quite how he described him to the others…

_Sarah_

Sarah loves it when the whole family come home for Christmas. Her own family is rather small and it’s been very quiet since Colley left home so she enjoys having all her boys and their partners turning up to fill the house, ransack the cupboards and tell her all those things that never make it into phone calls or texts. Colley in particular has been spending a lot of time with her in the kitchen. Her last baby, all grown up, talking about his boyfriend and how maybe, just maybe, it might be serious.

He’s changed and grown so much recently and she’s so proud of him it brings a lump to her throat. He’s kind and gentle and finding his own way. She knows it wasn’t easy for a boy with lots of older brothers, making his own path. She’s proud of the way he stays true to himself. They talk about Will frequently while they cook. Places Colley and Will have been together: skating with Jon and Bell, long walks by the river. Colley talks so brightly about everything Will has said and done and Sarah realises he’s more than half in love already. She hopes that all those things he sees in Will, those things that seem a little at odds with the Will she met, are true and not wishful thinking on Colley’s part. His heart is too big for his own good. She doesn’t want to see him hurt.

She has only met Will once before, when they’d come up to see Colley at university at the end of the summer term. It had been the usual kind of awkward meeting of parents and boy or girlfriend, something she’s an expert on by now. He’d made her laugh, if she’s honest, not yet grown out of what she thinks of as teenage attitude, all in black with skinny jeans and an earring, smelling of cigarettes. Not at all who she’d expected Colley to choose and not quite how Colley had described him. Perhaps though, like so many boys, he just needs to do a bit more growing up to get comfortable in his own skin.

When Colley asks if Will can come and stay for a few days it’s not exactly a hardship. The house is full enough that one more boy won’t make a difference. She’s also curious to see more of him for herself.

“I think maybe... I think things are pretty bad with his parents. They aren’t like us,” Colley says carefully, gazing into the depths of a mug of tea, “not like you. I don’t think they like him being... you know.”

He shrugs, and Sarah isn’t quite sure if he means Will’s appearance or sexuality or any other irrational reason to dislike your own child. She finds herself torn between wanting to warn Colley away from a relationship that might be fraught with drama and that familiar urge to (as her husband puts it) adopt another lost sheep. 

When Will arrives, she’s expecting him to be acting ‘cool’ or perhaps with the charm turned up to eleven (secretly hoping for the second because it amuses her). She expects the usual awkwardness, having somebody new in the house, perhaps a little adjustment if he’s a bit... loud.

She’s not expecting him to turn up looking like a rabbit in the headlights. She’s not expecting him to be deposited in the hall with a collection of overstuffed bags that scream ‘running away from home’ and the wide eyed look he gives the assembled family all coming to have a look at him and say hello. Dressed in the most conventional clothes, he looks like a lost boy and Sarah finds herself rapidly reviewing her opinions. Pete, who collected Will from the station, gives her a baffled look and she realises that it’s probably time to step in and rescue him from the masses.

After she’s sent Will and Colley upstairs she makes tea. Two big mugs of comfortingly thick china and a selection of biscuits on a Christmas plate. Comfort for boys so often seems to mean food. She carries them upstairs to Colley’s room, thinking she’ll let them have tea up there alone.

On the stairs she hears the sound that’s not quite a sob but something equally unhappy, quickly stifled, and Colley’s voice murmuring something full of concern. Not a moment for her to intrude then. With the ease of thirty years practice, she turns and takes the mugs back downstairs without a sound. She’ll ask someone else to come back in a bit.

_Colley_

Colley has never thought of his family as being terrifying before then. They're just... them. Sometimes they drive him mad, but he loves them, and it's good to be with them all. Seen through Will's eyes though, descending like a bunch of inquisitive vultures at just the point when he wants to get Will away somewhere alone, they look horrifying.

"Are you alright," he asks Will as they go upstairs, up to Colley's room in what used to be the attic. He spent yesterday trying to make it a bit less embarrassing but he's still got the entire collection of Thomas the Tank Engine books on the bookcase so it was pretty much a lost cause.

"I'm fine." Will smiles at him in a way that suggests he's lying through his teeth.

"Could you try lying more convincingly please? It's my family isn't it? They're awful like this and I didn't think at all. I just wanted to see you. Jesus Will, I'm sorry."

"It's not... really, it's not your family. It just home, being at home, I'm not... it's not good being home. It never is over the holiday."

"Hey," Colley says, wrapping Will up in a hug the way he's been wanting to for ages. "Missed you."

"Missed you too. Am I... staying in this room?"

"Yeah. Is that ok?" Colley has a moment of panic that Will was expecting something different, but the house is full to bursting right now and there’s really nowhere else, unless you want the sofa. 

"With you?" Will gives him a rather crooked smile. 

"Of course with me, unless..."

"No, no, I just meant, your family. They don't mind?"

"Oh, no, that's ok. I mean, all my brothers have already had that talk with Mum before about people staying over. It's fine."

"I'm sorry, I just... worried. What they'd think. My parents are not so great at that kind of thing. At anything."

"So the clothes, aren’t for my family then?" Colley tries a bit of teasing but Will doesn’t respond. 

"No, that's mum and dad wanting me to be dressed how they want, although I suppose I thought maybe your parents would like it better."

Colley snorts with laughter, "you do remember they met you before? Earring and all? And the rest of them have seen your photo. I think Pete was wondering if he'd got the right person in the car."

"Yeah?" Will’s breath hitches, almost a laugh. 

"Really. You can change, if you like."

"You just want me to take my clothes off, right?" Will leers at him, a bit more like his usual self. And it's true, there are some benefits to him stripping off his shirt, except he’s not doing it to make a show like he usually would and instead he’s standing there looking a bit lost and dithering in front of his bags. He rummages into the rucksack, hunched over it like he hopes that Colley won’t see, but it’s still noticeable that there’s a battered grey bunny stuffed in the top of the bag along with a bundle of photos with elastic round them and god knows what else and Colley thinks ‘oh fuck’ to himself. 

“Will?” he says, while Will struggles into his t-shirt. “Did you… are you...?” He doesn’t know how to ask. 

“I’m going to my grandmother. In France.” Will gives him a look that’s almost angry. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to overstay my welcome, but I’m not going back home!” 

“That’s not what I meant! Jesus, Will, what happened?” 

Will doesn’t answer, he just makes this utterly miserable sound and Colley can’t help gathering him close and talking rubbish, until Will starts talking himself in a way he never has before, about his family and their Expectations and constant criticism of everything and how he just wants to escape. Not everything sounds completely awful (Colley suspects his parents would have something to say about him smoking too, for example) but taken all together it builds a depressing picture. It makes him understand a bit more about Will, and the floodgates are open now, and Will lets out a whole jumble of worries about meeting Colley’s family and where he’s going to go and even what he’s going to do when he’s finished his course.

It takes a long time for him to get himself back to normal, and for Colley to kiss him and hug him and feel that things are getting right again. William finds himself an oversized hoodie (from a tour of a band Colley has never heard of) and is putting eyeliner on in the tiny mirror when there's a tap at the door. 

It's Sophie, the quietest of Colley's sisters-in-law. She has two mugs of tea on a tray and a plate of Christmas biscuits (because there's no risk of anyone starving to death in this household).

"Though you might want to escape for a bit," she says, "we are a bit of a horde. I remember, so you two are officially excused cooking duty. Lunch is running late so you’ve got these to keep you going."

"Thanks Soph."

They spend an hour or so, lying on Colley's bed and nibbling biscuits, kissing and catching up and just being in one another's company. The call for lunch comes all too soon, but Colley's Dad buttonholes Will and gets him talking about uni and which bits of France he's been to, and then Andrew wants to know about when he saw whichever band it is on Will's hoodie, and through all the haze of roast beef and potatoes and Yorkshire pudding Colley sees that his family are doing their best to make sure Will is happy. He loves them for it, fiercely. For being loud and chaotic and caring all the same. For the way that Will blossoms under the attention, and is the Will that Colley wanted his family to see. He even copes with being handed one of Colley's nieces to admire.

"Hey kid," Will says, looking pretty much as terrified as anyone holding a baby for the first time, but he manages. He doesn't seem to mind when she dribbles a bit either, or won't let go of his finger.

After lunch come all the stupid games they play: stupidly competitive Monopoly and Uno, with Christmas films in the background. Colley is busy beating his nephew at Ludo and somehow he starts to forget that Will is new to all this. It just feels right to have him there.

_Will_

Will is... ok. Some of it he can blame on his own family, and not much sleep last night after the epic row they’d had. Some of it... he knew Colley had a big family. He'd heard about them, tried to keep all the relatives sorted in his head although honestly he can't keep track or put all the names to faces right now. Especially the kids. It's different to home too. Games like this aren't really his parents thing and he never had siblings to play against. Colley is so used to is, and Will doesn't want to get in the way or stop him joining in, but he's feeling like a spare part right now, huddled up in the armchair and watching Colley joining in. There’s a film on, but he’s missed half of it. 

"Will?"

It's Colley's mum, who he's been told to call by her first name but he thinks he might choke if he tries it. He sticks a smile on his face and hopes for the best.

"Do you mind giving me a hand in the kitchen?"

"Oh no, that's fine." He casts a longing look at Colley but he's busy and doesn't notice and there’s that chance of rescue gone. 

The kitchen is at least quiet. Colley's mum smiles at him in a way that would be reassuring if she were anyone other than his boyfriend’s mum. "I'm glad you were able to come over. It's good to see you again."

"Thank you for inviting me." He is seven again, being told to make sure he says thank you for having me when he goes over to a friend's house to play.

"I hope we haven't overwhelmed you too much. It takes some getting used to, doesn't it?"

"I suppose so." He smiles, because his mind has gone blank and he can’t think of anything else to say. He’s never done this before, ever, and he’s terrified of saying the wrong thing. 

"I'm making mince pies for tea. The boys have eaten most of the ones I made for Christmas. I thought you could keep me company. I understand you're a coffee drinker?"

"Yes." It's about all he can manage, not sure whether he's glad not to be put to the test with some domestic task he might ruin or worried that he's got nothing to be getting on with. Even making coffee feels like some kind of hazard, feeling like he ought to know how to make it perfectly but not even knowing where the mugs are.

"Like me then, despite the family of tea drinkers." She fetches coffee from the cupboard and puts the kettle on.

"Colley's the one who got me drinking tea. I didn't really drink it before."

"That's my boy!" She smiles. "He's told us such a lot about you. I think you make him very happy."

"I… hope so."

"I'm sorry, I'll stop embarrassing you!” She laughs and gives him a grin so broad he can’t help answering it with a smile of his own. “So, tell me about this year abroad of yours? I heard you were planning where to go next? Do you get to go to Spain as well as France?"

Colley's mum turns out to be quite easy to talk to, in the end. It's something she and her son have in common: that straightforward way of seeming interested in what you've got to say. She makes good coffee too, and gets him to work cutting out pastry for the pies.

He's busy with egg wash and a knife to mark the lids (two separate cuts for mincemeat and a cross for apple) when Colley lurches around the kitchen door. "Will, Mum, everything alright?" He asks looking guilty.

"We're fine," she says calmly.

"Yeah, we are," Will adds, realising that's it's true. Something about the quiet has settled him in a way he hadn't been before. There’s still going to be a lot of stuff to deal with in the next few days, trying to work out what to do about getting to his grandmother and dealing with his parents, but he can probably take a couple of days to be here with Colley and enjoy the end of the holiday. 

Colley sits down in the kitchen with them, wrinkling his nose up at the coffee and getting in trouble for helping himself to the stewed apple for the pies. They laugh, the three of them, and when a few more people drift in, it's still ok. 

Colley takes his hand under the table and gives it a squeeze. Yeah, all things considered, it’s going to be ok. 


End file.
